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Mother campaigns against 80mph speed limit

A woman from Norfolk is campaigning against proposals to raise the motorway speed limit to 80mph.

Liz Voysey's daughter Amy was killed by a speeding driver on a dual carriageway in 2004. She says if the 80 limit's introduced 25 more people will be killed every year.

19-year-old Amy Upcraft, from Dereham, Norfolk, had been driving to work on 3 March 2004, in the outside lane of the 70mph A47 in Norfolk. Just five minutes from her home, a lorry pulled out to overtake a moped and hit her, sending Amy spinning across the carriageway and into the central reservation.

Because it was such a busy road she was frightened to get out of the car, and the driver's door was jammed. She put her hazard lights on, called for rescue and then called her mum to let her know she was unharmed.

Amy's step-dad George, 53, rushed to her rescue and when Liz rang Amy again and got no reply, she followed him. When Liz arrived, she was met by carnage and the sight of her only daughter lying dead, still trapped in her car. A van had smashed into Amy's car, killing her as she waited for help.

At the inquest Liz heard that van driver Glenn Paraman, then 30, was speeding when he hit Amy. She was told that if he had been under the 70mph limit he would have seen her.

"Amy was my only daughter. She was, and still is, utterly precious to me. I was so angry at the driver who killed her. Other car drivers saw Amy, slowed down and went around her.

"Because he was speeding, he lost valuable seconds he should have used to observe the situation ahead and take the action as all the other motorists had and avoided killing a young and innocent young woman. He said he didn't see her and crashed into her.

"I am utterly outraged the government is proposing to raise motorway limits, and maybe other dual carriageways. The government knows it will lead to more deaths, like my Amy's. But it seems they don't care about the families who will have to suffer the indescribable pain of losing their loved one in such a violent, sudden and horrifying way.

"I'm calling on the government to think about the 25 more families each year that would suffer in the way I have, and scrap their plans to increase speed limits."